Love Me for Me
by Eat.Pray.Dance
Summary: He was determined to be her everything. Claire Matthews was only supposed to take care of Billy Black. She never expected to be the imprintee of a werewolf, or be thrown into the world of love, comfort, and rivalry. Will she finally be loved for her?
1. The Help

_**Love Me For Me… (Chapter 1: The Help)**_

"Paul why don't you take a break? Come inside and sit with an old man for a minute" Billy Black wheezed from off his rickety front porch.

It had been years since most of the Cullen's up and left, going their separate ways, kids from the reservation going off to college and jobs far away from home. Billy's own son, Jacob, receiving a full scholarship to CSU for the universities football team, a little after high school. Dropping the ax to the moss-covered floor beneath, Paul wiped the sweat from his forehead with the bottom of his t-shirt. In the years following Renia's marriage to Jasper, Paul reached out to contact her once and while, sometimes receiving pictures of her children in the mail.

Billy had wheeled himself into the study, taking a seat by the window, where he watched the large Japanese maple tree that grew in his backyard. There was an old tire swing tied to one of its branches, where his children used to play when they were younger. When his wife Sarah was still living, she prided herself in caring and nurturing for the tree throughout the mostly rainy seasons, ikebana flowers growing around the massive tree. Two glasses of lemonade were sitting on the small table near the window, Paul sitting himself in one of the armchairs that took up a corner near the Victorian styled glass.

"You know that I'm dying Paul" Billy started. His hands shook greatly as he picked up the glass, bringing its rim to his trembling lips.

"Billy, don't say-"

"It's inevitable Paul. I've called to have a nurse brought to the reservation. It's getting harder to do many of the things I used to be able to do. And without Jacob here… I need the extra help Paul" A year after Jacob left the reservation; Billy Black contracted ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease. He could barely lift his arms past his chest anymore, and it became a strain to wheel himself around the one-story house.

Paul looked at the man he had come to see as a second father. Billy was dressed in an old CSU sweatshirt and brown corduroy pants, his once thick, black hair, now graying and thinning, tied back in a long braid. His face was beginning to sink in, the prominent bones of his cheeks, sticking out in an ungodly manner. His hands shook as they lay folded in his lap, and the once strong chief elder, now seemed small and withered beyond belief.

"What about Rachel and Rebecca?"

Billy scoffed, his eyes shifting back to the maple tree in the garden. "My girls have lives of their own to live. They don't need to be taking care of an old man like me. The same goes for Jacob. I lived my life Paul. Death is one of the many things people fear… I had a wife and kids and a community. What more could I ever ask for?" Paul didn't have an answer, the pregnant pause, interrupted by a small knock at the door. Paul rose to go answer it, Billy putting a hand on his arm to still him. "I got this" he murmured, wheeling himself towards the entrance.

Paul's face set into a grim line. The door opened and closed, the muffled sound of voices coming closer and closer to the study.

"Paul" the man rose as Billy wheeled himself into the study once again. A young woman trailed behind him, dressed in a red and white striped shirt that tied in the front, dark wash blue jeans, and an old set of knit design slip-on Toms. She was tiny, looking to be about 5"4 to 5"5 with light caramel colored hair that tumbled in loose curls down her back. She had striking gray blue eyes that were trained on Billy's hands as he wheeled to a complete stop in front of Paul.

"This is Claire Matthews. She's a registered nurse at Washington General Hospital, studying abroad for her nursing degree at St. Ann's hospital in London. Carlisle specifically mentioned that she is a great nurse and that she was the perfect candidate to take on the job."

Air escaped from Paul's lungs in a quick breath, as he took in the female before him fully. She smiled warmly at him, and Jacob's words to Bella began ringing throughout his subconscious

_"It's not like love at first sight, really. It's more like... gravity moves... suddenly. It's not the earth holding you here anymore, she does... You become whatever she needs you to be, whether that's a protector, or a lover, or a friend."_

"My thanks to Dr. Cullen" she said happily, "I brought a record of all my studies and jobs since I became a nurse, just in case you wanted to look over them. I graduated top of my class in high school as well as college, I have a 4.0 GPA, and I have no criminal record." She handed Billy a manila colored envelope, papers and transcripts spilling out to the brim, as he set it open on his lap.

"Paul why don't you entertain Ms. Matthews while I read this over?" Paul snapped out of his thoughts, blue-gray eyes blinking up at him owlishly. Scratching the back of his head with dirt covered fingers, he held out one hand to her. "I'm Paul Lahote. I do most of the dirty work and hard labor around here for Billy" her small hand grasped his in a firm shake, as she nodded her head in understanding. Those deep dimples took residence on both cheeks, her smile widening. "That's really sweet of you to do something like that" she whispered.

Dropping her hand, Paul led her to the kitchenette part of the house, grabbing a small, plastic bottle filled with water from the refrigerator. "Water?" Claire took the small bottle gratefully, sipping its contents till the bottle was half full.

"So what made you decide to want to become a nurse?"

Her eyes lit up with excitement as she set the bottle down. "Well taking care of people and making people comfortable and happy has always been a big thing for me. I come from a relatively big family and no matter where you were or who you were with you were always taken care of. Not everyone has that opportunity though. I started going to a Career, Science, and Technology school my junior year of high school, and at the end of that school year I went and got my Certified Nurse's Aide degree and I was able to shadow the local hospitals and nursing homes outside of school. Then during my senior year I went back and took another, more higher level class, and that earned me some of the credits I would need when I actually went to school to be a nurse. By then I was working part-time at the hospital as a nurse and I volunteered my time at the nursing home on the weekend. The summer after my senior year I received an invitation to go over to some parts of Africa to help them give aide to people who really needed it. I stayed there for six months, and then came back state-side, got my Registered Nursing Degree in London, and came back to Washington to work at the hospital up in Seattle."

"_That so much heart could be stored into a woman so small amazes me. Add that to fact that she loves what she does." _Paul was awe-struck at the amount of passion that laced her voice when she talked about her job. The way her eyes lit up and her smile deepened when she talked about helping people.

"_Lord help me, if this girl hasn't affected me already…"_

Billy came into the kitchen a few minutes afterward, Claire volunteering to make lunch for all of them. Conversing over a light lunch of chicken Caesar salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing and lemonade, Paul learned that the bubbly young nurse was a Kansas Native and grew up with two other sisters and a brother. Her mother raised all four children by herself, and all of her siblings were either married or engaged to be married sometime soon. She talked about growing up in the country, and about her time in Africa and London, the young Lahote man hanging on to every word and storing it for memory.

Later on that evening, once Claire returned to her loft back in Seattle, Paul sat down in his small living room, dialing a once familiar number.

"Paul Lahote" the voice mused, "how's it been stranger?"

**Author's Note: Howdy readers! Okay, since Paul didn't get love in **_**The Better Eclipse **_**(awe!) I'm writing this story so that Paul can have a happy ending too! In this story Paul is 30 (I went back and reviewed **_**The Better Eclipse **_**and in Please Help Me Pt.1 I said Renia was 25, so I calculated in my head and I'm saying Paul can be about 30 now, and Claire is going to be 26) (four year difference I know!). Anyways, if it gets confusing or you think it doesn't make sense then send me a little review or message and be all like "hey I don't get it!" or "this doesn't make sense!" and I'll be like "okie-dokie!" And try and fix it for you! Anyway I hope this story works out like I want it to, and as always I love you guys from an author to her readers, and…you know what I'm going to say right? REVIEW!**

**Love~ EatPrayDance **


	2. Call From A Familar Friend

_**Love Me for Me (Chapter 2: Call from a familiar friend)**_

_**Last time on Love Me for Me:**_

_**Later on that evening, once Claire returned to her loft back in Seattle, Paul sat down in his small living room, dialing a once familiar number.**_

_**"Paul Lahote" the voice mused, "how's it been stranger?"**_

**Paul's POV:**

"Renia" I murmured dejectedly.

"Awe, Paul? What's the matter?"

"I have a major problem in the form of a 5 foot something with blue eyes and dimples" There was a pregnant pause on the other end of the line, before Renia's tinkling laughter rang throughout the phone.

"That's all!" she gushed. I could feel my ears start heating up, as the vampire I had come to know as a friend calmed her laughter. "Okay" she started, "tell me all about this intimidating little something?"

And so I regaled her with the events that took place today, images of Claire's smiling face flashing through my mind all the while. "My God…" she whispered, "I had no idea Billy had ALS… has anyone told Jacob, Rachel, and Rebecca?"

"Billy doesn't want them to know until he's dead and gone. They have their own lives"

Sniffling could be heard from the other end of the phone. Renia had come to see Billy as a second father as well, and to know that he would die soon was heartbreaking. "Paul, I'm going to hand the phone to Jasper. He can give you more advice than I ever could when it comes to this. But as a thought maybe you should talk to someone like Jake or Sam, they should know what you're going through the most. I'll talk to you soon Paulie, I love you and the boys say hello."

I laid my head against the back of the chair I was sitting in, waiting as Renia's husband got on the phone. After the wedding Jasper and I had become sort of friends and sometimes even went fishing together when the Cullen's would come down for a vacation.

"Paul, I'm so sorry to hear about Billy…. If there's anything we can do, you just let us know" I thanked the blonde vampire for his condolences, shifting uneasily in the leather upholstery beneath me.

"Renia tells me, you're having girl trouble? Why don't you tell me about it?" Once again I began telling of all the events that occurred today, my hands clenching and unclenching painfully against the phone.

"Well that sounds like infatuation to me." He began thoughtfully, "I don't know much about imprinting, but what I do know is that love is a crazy thing. It can happen at any given moment, and sometimes it's a slow process. I'm not saying you have to love her today or tomorrow but you feel something for her. The only thing you can really do is get to know her. Take it slow; you don't want to scare her off. And Paul… care for her, protect her, be anything and everything she needs you to be and the rest will follow suit. Also, talk to Jacob and Sam, and the others, they can go more into detail…"

Hanging up the phone a little while later, I sat there for what seemed like hours until I finally dragged myself to bed and fell into a restless sleep…..

_Heat flooded through me, stronger than before, but it was a new kind of heat - not a burning: It was glowing. Everything that made me who I was- my love for my family, my loyalty to my pack, the love for my other brothers, my hatred for my enemies, my home, my name, myself - disconnected from me in that second - snip, snip, snip - and floated up into space. I was not left drifting. A new string held me where I was. Not one string, but a million. Not strings, but steel cables. A million steel cables all tying me to one thing - to the very center of the universe. I could see that now - how the universe swirled around this one point. I'd never seen the symmetry of the universe before, but now it was plain. The gravity of the earth no longer tied me to the place where I stood. It was the bubbly nurse with the blue-gray eyes that held me here now…"_

"_Claire…"_

_Her blue-gray eyes were trained on me, and only me, as I reached out to hold her in my arms. "Paul" she murmured quietly. Millions and Millions of steel cables holding me to her. Everything else was secondary. Her wants, needs, and desires were all that seemed to matter anymore. "Hold me closer" she whispered. I would hold her for as long and as tight as she wanted. I'd be happy to walk in her shadow all my life just to be close to her. I wanted her. Not just her heart, but her flesh, skin, blood, and bones. Her voice, her thoughts, her pulse. But most of all, her fingerprints, all over me…._

"_Paul…"_

I woke with a start, the first rays of morning sun beginning to filter in through my curtains. My head was pounding, as I trudged quietly out of bed and to the bathroom, stripping myself of yesterday's clothes. Was this a sign from God? Was he telling me that Claire and I were meant to be together? Washing quickly, I dressed in a white t-shirt, dark blue jeans, and mud covered boots, having a quick breakfast, before walking over to Billy's. A little, pale blue Volkswagen bug was parked out front, its license plate reading 'C-Bear' with a breast cancer ribbon stuck to the bumper.

Billy sat out on his front porch, a portable table pulled in front of him with pancakes and eggs plated on top. Claire sat in the wicker chair next to him, talking and laughing quietly with the older man. She was dressed comfortably in a dark-gray Victoria's Secret PINK athletic tee, dark-wash blue jeans, and slip-on gray Toms, her caramel colored hair pulled back into a messy ponytail.

"Sleeping in a little late, aren't you Paul?" Billy asked amusedly. Taking a quick glance at my watch, I cursed under my breath at reading 11:30.

"I've just made a fresh pot of coffee, would you like some Paul?" heat flooded all throughout my body, as my heart picked up speed. Dammit! I nodded incoherently, as she rose from her spot in the wicker chair, going back inside the house to retrieve a mug.

"Sit down a spell boy, and talk to me about something" Billy patted the seat on the left of him, my legs feeling like lead as I plopped down next to him.

"I see the way you look at her you know"

"I don't know-"

"Oh come off it Paul. Imprinting is written all over that face of yours. There's heat going through you isn't there? An insatiable feeling that can't be quenched? Paul you're 30 years old, it's time for you to settle down. And a sweet, young girl like her… Well it's only a matter of time before somebody sweeps her off her feet."

I could feel my body begin to shake.

Jealously: The little green monster who likes to rear his ugly head in the worst of ways…

"Here's your coffee Paul, I didn't know if you took cream and sugar so I brought some out here with me." She set the little tray down in front of, her eyes falling to look at my face.

"Paul you're shaking. Are you feeling alright?"

And then she touched my cheek.

My God if it wasn't the best feeling in the world. It was as if I had never been touched before. Everything seemed to snap into focus, as I took deep, shuddering breaths.

"I'm fine, just been a rough morning…" her gray eyes looked worriedly at my face, until she deemed me alright. Grabbing the tray and plates away from Billy she rushed back into the house and came back out again, wiping her hands against her jeans.

"Billy do you have a tool shed or a place where you keep your gardening supplies? I noticed some flowers and a tree in the back yard and it looks like it hasn't been tended to in a while." Billy's expression turned crestfallen, as he clenched and unclenched his hands in his lap.

"It hasn't been tended to in a while, because he's only allowed one person to touch it and she's dead now"

Her eyes widened in disbelief. She bit her lip, before walking back into the house.

Dammit.

I let my temper get the best of me once again.

"You should apologize to her for that Paul… she didn't know. And besides I know she can give that garden the love that Sarah did." Carefully wheeling himself inside the house, I cursed under my breath. What the hell was wrong with me? The back door slammed shut a few minutes later. Billy wheeled himself to the front door, looking at me with hardened eyes. "She means well Paul. You need to apologize…. She's in the garden now."

Her back was turned to me when I walked quietly towards the back of the house. Her hands were covered with protective gloves as she began to dig deep into the soil, patting down fertilizer from the wheel barrel when it was needed.

"Claire"

"Billy explained it to me… It was careless of me to ask… It's okay Paul; you were just looking out for him"

I dropped down on the ground next to her, my hands clenching tightly in my lap. "I was being a dick. You didn't mean harm and I just snapped on you. When I said I was having a rough morning, I really meant it…. I had trouble sleeping last night, but I had no right to take my frustrations out on you. I can be a hothead sometimes, but… I'm sorry Claire. I'm so sorry."

She stopped digging and flickered her blue-gray eyes to my brown ones. A small, hesitant smile crept onto her face, and she patted my hand in understanding.

With that one simple gesture I knew all was forgiven.

"Now, how about I help you replenish this garden?" she laughed quietly, handing me a pair of gloves and trowel and we set to work.

We stayed out there for hours, small idle chit-chat going between us, and I began to learn more and more about her. She was wholesome and sensible, and she made me laugh like I hadn't laughed in ages.

_There is in every true woman's heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity._

Everything about her was an enigma. Mysterious and delicate, her life was a delicacy in its own. I wanted to be her structure, her protector, her everything….

_When you are in love you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams. ~ Dr. Seuss _

**Author's Note: Hey everyone! I'm hoping that you guys are enjoying this story. I was kinda on the fence at first about this chapter, but then I decided what the heck and kept it as is. I hope you guys like it and i'm going to try really hard to put a lot of detail and feeling into this story. As always remember to REVIEW and I love you guys as an author to her readers!**

**Love~EatPrayDance**


	3. Do you cry Paul?

Paul's POV:

The back door to Billy's small one story house slammed shut, Claire bounding down the rickety wooden steps. It was close to four weeks since Claire's arrival, and-though she was tiny in stature- she flitted around like an energizer bunny, always cleaning up, and lifting Billy in and out of his wheelchair when need be. When it came time for Billy to sleep for the night, Claire and I would sometimes sit on my front porch with a glass of red wine with the radio turned on low.

Tonight was no exception.

Once her car was locked up safely, she sat down on the dusty steps of the porch, muttering quiet thanks for the chilled wine. The sun was just beginning to set, casting its fiery glow across the dirt covered ground, soft Indies and rock music playing in the back ground. We chatted idly about our days, her talking for the most part while I was happy to listen. In fact I was always happy to listen. When she spoke, her mouth would quirk up just enough where her dimples would show when she was happy, or pull down into a grimace when she was angry or frustrated. When she talked about something sad, Claire would get teary eyed and had to blink rapidly to keep the salty drops at bay.

"_It's okay to show emotions when the time is appropriate, but I was never the type to bring down others joy with my tears"_ she mused once.

That was the day when we began to talk more about her job. She was talking about all of the patients she took care of, until she paused at her last patient, a young six year old named Emily. She was in the hospital with leukemia and died two weeks before Claire's transfer to Billy. As she talked, Claire blinked rapidly, and when I asked her why, she said because there was no use in making me sad because of her tears.

"_Crying is a beautiful thing_" I replied back, _"Showing emotion is a beautiful thing. It means that you care"_

She hugged me tightly after that and we moved on to lighter subjects for the rest of the night. Tonight we spoke more about me then we probably ever had. I rarely opened up to anyone about my personal life, excluding Billy, Jacob, and lately Renia. I liked to say that I live a simple life with simple wants and needs, but that's never really the case. Leaning back against the old, worn out post that held up the porches awning, Claire asked about my family, my friends, my school, even my likes and dislikes. She avoided touchier subjects like past relationships, and for that I was grateful.

I answered simply, with quick, short sentences, her blue-grey eyes trained on my face whilst I talked.

"Do you cry Paul?" she asked quietly.

There was a pregnant pause.

The last time I could ever remember myself crying was when I was seventeen.

_Flashback:_

_I was a kid, barely learning how to drive, barely shaving, still new to the wolf pack since it was only my first official year. My hormones were all out of balance, and at that time, I thought I had found __**the one**__. The one person I would be able to spend the rest of my life with, albeit it was Jacob's sister Rachel. When we were younger, she and I used to play around together. For years I saw her as nothing more than a friend; one of the guys._

_But one particular night, down at the beach for a bonfire, I saw something totally different in her. Instead of the odd, brash spitfire I was used to seeing, I saw a woman, sitting across from me on a log, fighting over the last s'more. Her skin was glowing unearthly with the fire's glow, those dark brown eyes tinged with mirth, her long, brown hair blowing softly in the salt-scented breeze. My heart skipped a beat, jumping into my throat where I couldn't speak, where I found myself wondering when she had gotten so beautiful._

_She glanced at me from over the fires embers, the little quarrel between her and Jacob ending. Standing up, she bravely marched the few centimeters from log-to-log, and plopped down beside me._

_We talked for hours, about anything and everything, and I saw Rachel Black in an entirely different light that night…_

_I don't actually remember when we crossed the friendzone into a relationship, but we dated, even after Rachel got accepted into Washington State University. When she came back, I noticed that she distanced herself from me, from our relationship, but I denied it; denied that maybe our relationship was over._

_Finally, one evening at a restaurant, she explained her distance. She had met a guy while she was away at college. She loved him, and she had only come back to tell me that it was over in person._

"_I'm sorry Paul, but I've finally met someone that I cannot live without. I hope that one day you can forgive me" she had whispered._

_I was planning on proposing to her that night, hoping that it would make things all better…._

_It didn't and when she hurriedly left from the table, I paid the check, went home, and cried myself to sleep._

_After that night, Rachel left, went off and got married. _

_I became bitter, angry, and short-tempered. I blamed everyone for my problems, and snapped at people when I saw fit. I was an empty-shell…._

_I wasn't the same Paul any more._

_End Flashback:_

I lightened up when Renia came to the reservation. Calmed myself even more when Billy's disease started worsening. It seems now that I'm completely at peace since Claire arrived.

"Paul?" I snapped out of my musings, Claire's worried blue-grey eyes peering into my own brown ones. Her hand reached up, lightly touching my cheek. When she pulled back, a tear was falling lightly down her tiny finger.

Was I crying?

Reaching up with my own calloused hands, I ran them roughly across my cheeks, swiping away any evidence of tears. Claire didn't ask for the reason of my tears, and for that I was grateful.

We quietly finished our wine in peace, the bubbly, young nurse, thanking me for the talk, before touching my cheek, and leaving for her loft for the night.

**Author's Note: Hey readers! I am SO sorry it took me so long to write more! I haven't been on my account and I haven't read my own stories, and today I went on my account and I was like "huh. I haven't updated" so here you go! I really hope you guys forgive the delay, and as always I love you guys from an author to her readers, and always, always remember to REVIEW!**

**Love~EatPrayDance**


	4. A Wolf Side Story

Paul's POV:

Some days were better than others when it came to Billy's health.

In the morning when Claire pulled up in her Volkswagen Bug, Billy lay patiently in his bed. He stayed there for most of the day, refusing to be hefted into his wheelchair to sit in the den or on the porch. He napped and took his medicine per usual, whilst Claire cleaned up around the house, dusting and sweeping and tending to the garden without as much as a grimace. When she finally coaxed Billy out of his bed, she wheeled him outside on the front porch with a warm blanket and some tea-though the weather was inching well into the nineties- the radio turned on low to Billy's favorite station. He sung weakly, in a deep rumbling voice, and stayed there for the rest of the evening until Claire placed him back in bed.

Per usual we sat out on my front porch with the radio turned low, sipping chilled wine from my finest glasses.

As hard as it was to believe at first, I truly believed that I was starting to fall for Claire….

She was everything I could possibly want in a woman.

A heart as big as all get up that was filled with so much love and compassion for others.

A sense of humor that never failed to make me laugh like I hadn't laughed in ages.

And this certain outlook on life, that, no matter the circumstances or how bleak the situation was, she saw everything for the better; saw _me_ for the better.

I hadn't felt this whole, this _alive_ since I was a seventeen year old, hormonal teenager that fawned and dated my best friend's sister. I was being held to the earth, the universe, by this one little woman and she didn't even know the half of my life…

But I was willing to change all of that, if only I could make her happy; was willing to change my entire life, my entire being, just to be with her.

And just the reality of that scared me.

I wasn't usually the type of person to be scared easily.

Going head-to-head with angry bears and fighting off newborn vampires weren't the types of situations that plagued my dreams. They didn't chill me to bone, sending me running for the hills in terror like you see in horror movies.

But the simple thought that Claire and I might not end up together, was a nightmare in itself.

"Paul?" Claire's sweet, inquiring voice snapped me out of my musings.

"Billy. He told me that you can be quite the story-teller," she started quietly, "I was wondering, if it wouldn't be too much trouble… Would you tell me a story?"

Her iridescent blue-grey eyes stared at me owlishly, olive-toned cheeks heating up to a bright red in the setting sun.

Tell her a story?

I hadn't really told anyone a story besides Billy, and Rachel- when she gave me that look of hers- but Claire?

Claire needed a fantastic story. A new one, that no one had ever heard before and nobody ever would. A mind-boggling, imaginative story that would leave her on the edge of her seat.

And I knew the perfect subject….

Her face was beginning to fall in disappointment, when I gently pulled her to my side of the porch where I leaned against the post.

"There was a wolf" I began slowly, "He was…troubled to say the least. A fighter, never backing down from a challenge."

Claire leaned into me, her head resting against my chest as I wrapped an arm loosely around her.

"Everyone always said to him that he needed to get his life together or he would end up going down the wrong path. But he was stubborn, believed that he had his whole life under wraps. And then one day, in the forest he thought he had met the wolf of his dreams, and that his own personal fairytale was finally coming true. He wanted to be her wolf in shining fur, but it turns out that his fur was dirty, damaged. But being the stubborn wolf that he was, he was determined to prove not only the world but himself wrong as well. So he took her and they ran off into the sunset together.

Now this wolf wanted so badly for his love to mate him. But she went away to further her skills as a wolf, and then came back, albeit she came back different. She no longer wanted to hang around the other wolves like she used to. But our wolf hero was determined to make it all better. And so, one night he went hunting, and got the best catch he could find, and, after sectioning it, he placed it at the feet of his intended. During their 'meal' his intended, told him that she had found another, more suitable wolf for herself. She told him that she loved this wolf and that she was running away to be with him.

When she left, our wolf became the wolf that he was before her, but much, much worse. He challenged other wolves in the pack, wouldn't share his catch, and fought with his alphas. He no longer wanted to open up his wolf heart to another… And then three wolves joined the pack, and he slowly befriended them, but he was still a troubled wolf. When one of his alpha wolves was no longer strong enough to hunt or lead the pack, however, it opened our wolf's eyes a little bit more, but he was still the same stubborn wolf. Eventually, when all of his wolf friends moved away, our wolf focused all of his efforts on helping the pack more, on helping his alpha more. And then one day, a little, tiny wolf trotted into the pack, and said that she was there to assist the alpha. Everyone doubted her strength, everyone except for our wolf. He saw something in her that sparked a feeling of completeness in him. And over time he realized that she was strong, caring, nurturing, and always looking out for others. She was a bright ray of sunlight in the forest. She was everything that our wolf needed in his life, everything that he looked for in a mate. And he realized that the wolf that left him wasn't what he wanted at all. He wanted the small, tiny, wolf. He wanted to care for her, watch over her, be her protector, and so much more."

"What happened between the wolf hero and the small wolf?" Claire interrupted.

"That is for another time…" I finished.

Claire turned around in the circle of my arms, her blue-grey eyes pleading with me to finish the story.

But the story still needed an ending.

And I hoped that it would be a happy ending.

One where the wolf hero would finally get his perfect mate.

**Author's Note: Hey guys, I hope you guys think this chapter was a good one! I think the idea of Paul's story having to do with wolves was a cute one! Also, if any one has any ideas for the story you can either put it in your review (cause I hope everyone review's!) or you can P.M me, and I'll try to incorporate it in the story! Side note: the three wolves are Maalon, Monique, and Renia from my story The Better Eclipse! The alpha wolf he could no longer hunt is Billy, and the wolf that left our wolf hero is Rachel! As always I love you guys from an author to her fans and always, always remember to REVIEW!**


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